_How Do Organs & Tissues Get Donated?

A person may have decided before passing away, for any number of reasons, to donate tissue from his or her body for the purpose of transplant to another who is in need. This may be accomplished through self-registration on a donor registry. Additionally, consent for donation may be given by the donor's legal next of kin, especially if the donor did not specify his or her wishes before death and as final approval when consent of the decedant has already been given. Next of kin consent is obtained shortly after death, generally in-person at a hospital or through a recorded telephone conversation.

After consent is obtained, potential donors are thoroughly screened for risk factors and medical conditions that would rule out donation, such as pathology to the organs/tissues to be donated, or risk for relevant communicable diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis B and C. This screening includes interviews with family members and/or the donor's primary care physician, evaluation of medical, hospital and coroner records, a physical assessment of the donor and recovery of blood, spleen and/or lymph nodes for infectious disease testing. Recovery of the tissue is performed with the utmost respect for the donor using surgical techniques.

Personnel from tissue recovery agencies remove the tissue from the donor. These agencies are under the regulation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and must abide by the Current Good Tissue Practices rule. Once the tissue is removed, it is sent to tissue banks for processing and distribution. Each year, AATB-accredited tissue banks distribute 15 million bone and tissue allografts. These banks are also regulated by the Food and Drug Administration to ensure the quality of the tissue being distributed.